The Monkey King's Consort
by Ammeh
Summary: Jiroh is lost in the jungle. Plot vaguely resembles Tarzan & Jane, except not. More things that start with M. Like manners, monkeys, and making out. Less things that start with G. Like girls. [AU, Atoji]
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** Another fic that is only here because of my beta. I asked her what I should write, she said "Monkeys. Lotsa monkeys." So, I present.

(Note: If you're following Kajimoto's Strip Club, I'm working on the next chapter, but I'm having a hard time writing Sengoku, as I don't like him that much. n.n;; )

Betaed by Fatedtofall. Less not-mine than usual, but still not mine.

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If there were a list of dangerous places to get lost, it is unlikely that the depths of the jungle would be at the top. Considering the existence of such places as "the slums of large cities," "the middle of the ocean," "underwater" and "inside an active volcano", it's unlikely it would even make the top ten. This does not negate, however, the fact that the depths of the jungle is an extremely dangerous place to get lost, and one should make a point to avoid doing so. 

Apparently, however, Akutagawa Jiroh did not know this. Perhaps he had never considered the matter, or perhaps he was foolishly brash. Perhaps he had inhaled some odd plant fumes and now believed himself to be invisible.

Whatever the cause, Akutagawa Jiroh was lost in the depths of the jungle, and did not seem to care a whit. In fact, he was sleeping. And while "being lost in the depths of the jungle" may not be on the top of the list, "being lost in the depths of the jungle while asleep" is certainly somewhat higher.

Ironically, this sleeping was the entire reason Jiroh was lost in the depths of the jungle in the first place. When Jiroh was born, the nurses had hooked his limp form up to the monitors in a panic, only to realize that the infant was perfectly healthy, but in the midst of a sound slumber. His mother had been alarmed at first when her newborn did not wake up for a 2 AM feeding, consistently sleeping through the night, and most of the morning as well. (As well as the evening, and the majority of the afternoon.) However, all of the doctors she'd seen on the matter had told her the same thing: her son was perfectly healthy, and would grow out of it when he was older. But Jiroh did not grow out of his sleeping habit, and, in a desperate attempt, his parents had sent the now teenage boy on a study group to the African jungles in the somewhat desperate hope a change of climate would miraculously cure what modern medicine could not.

Unfortunately, shortly after arriving in the jungles, the leaders had gotten separated from the group, the group had split up to find them, and Jiroh had gotten quite lost. Not one to be overly stressed about being lost in an unknown jungle with no clue if your companions were even still living, much less where they were, Jiroh promptly fell asleep.

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**Notes:** …My chapters are hella short, aren't they? 


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes**: ….I've actually had this done –forever,- and completely forgot to post it, until I got a nice comment and remembered, "Hey, I never posted that other part!"

Sorry for not updating in so long; I get in the mood to write fic during the summer, but this summer I've mostly been gone on Spanish-immersion trip to Costa Rica, then exchange trip to Japan. Then the other end of the exchange and I wasn't at home.

…The point being, now I am, but I have college applications to bother with, which sucks, but I shall try hard!

**Disclaimer:** Not mine.

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A bird cawed rather loudly overhead, and Jiroh jerked awake. This was partially due, of course, to the burst of sound above him, but moreso due to the furry hands that were plucking at him curiously. He opened his eyes blearily. Monkeys. _Big_ monkeys. Gorillas or something, maybe…he wasn't sure, having been asleep during the rundown they'd been given on the different monkey breeds. Whatever they were, they were lifting him up, clutching him in an oddly advanced-seeming cradle position. They started to walk, still carrying him. They lugged him through the jungle, the odd cradle of their arms cushioning him from jolts. It was almost like a hammock, rocking back and forth…and while it seems incredibly odd to say Jiroh fell asleep while being carted through the jungle to an unknown destination by oddly intelligent apes, he did.

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"Well, I was _expecting_ a female, but perhaps this is for the better. He's certainly pretty enough. Your king is pleased. You may depart."

The small band of apes who had brought the sleeping boy grunted, lumbering off and leaving their cargo on a pile of skins draped over a wooden frame that looked as if it might serve as a bed. The one who had spoken surveyed him, looking almost amused. He reached out a hand and caressed the boy's cheek, something that might have been a smirk surfacing on his face.

"Yes, definitely pretty enough. That's what I had him brought for, after all, but I must say this all turned out quite… fortuitously," he murmured to himself, leaning down to kiss the sleeping form. The king was, indeed, pleased.

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Jiroh blinked sleepily, or at least it _felt_ like he did. He must still be asleep, though, because he also thought he could feel warm lips moving against his own, and that _couldn't_ be real. And a hand slipping under his shirt. Definitely not real. The air…smelled different, though. Oh, right, he was lost in the middle of the jungle. He should probably…wake up or something…

Jiroh concentrated really, really hard on waking up, and it _felt_ like he did, but the hand didn't disappear. He'd woken up earlier, hadn't he? And there had been…monkeys. Lotsa monkeys. Carrying him. This seemed sufficiently odd to allow him to wake up fully.

…To a figure leaning over him. Huh. Maybe the kiss had been real after all. He rubbed his eyes, but the figure was still there. Curious. Very curious.

"Who're you?" he blurted tactfully.

The figure, which he now realized to be a boy about his own age, straightened, looking vaguely affronted. "I am Atobe Keigo, the Monkey King."

"…Oh," was all Jiroh could really think of to say. "The monkeys have a king?"

Atobe sniffed haughtily. "They do. And soon they will have another."

Jiroh blinked. "They will?"

"Yes. You are to be my consort."

"I am?"

"Yes… now stop questioning everything I say."

"Sorry. It's just that I've never been lost in the jungle and carried by monkeys to a wild-man before."

Atobe's eyebrow twitched. "I am _hardly_ a wild-man. I am a ruler, as you will soon learn."

"…I will?"

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Notes: If Atobe seems to be rushing things a little…it's because he doesn't have much experience with how these things are expected to progress, the reasons for which are probably pretty guessable and will be made clearer later.


End file.
